Delivering the doll didn't take much time. As Naoki himself said, compared to taking a car, he was actually faster running.
"This should be enough. Just to be safe, I should call Master to confirm."
In front of a company building, thinking this, Naoki contacted Touko, "Master, it's been delivered. After they sign and pay the remaining balance, it's all settled, right?"
[Hmm, no problem. With this, all the work for this year is done. The day after tomorrow is New Year's, I can drink all day long]
"Drink all day long? Alcohol?"
[Of course, alcohol is a good thing, it can instantly make you forget all your problems. Although your head will hurt a lot afterwards, it's also fine to just drink until you get alcohol poisoning and die, then just change bodies]
Truly a Grand-ranked Doll Maker who could change bodies anytime and anywhere, completely disregarding her own life and death.
[Just go home from work today, you don't need to come back to the office either. Arrange your own time from now on]
"Ah, wait a moment, Master, there's something I want to ask!" Naoki hurriedly stopped Touko, "Are there any empty rooms left in the office? If possible, Gray and I would like to stay there."
[Stay here? There are many rooms, but most of them haven't been renovated yet. I sleep on the sofa myself. By the way, why do you want to stay here? Isn't sleeping in a hotel comfortable?]
"It's comfortable, but the price... To be honest, even though I have a little savings now, staying in a hotel every day is still too much."
The debt he incurred two years ago for blowing up Riddel's laboratory had actually long been paid off by Naoki, and because he no longer had to pay off the debt, he slowly accumulated a little savings, but even so, his living conditions weren't good enough to stay in a hotel for a long time.
He himself didn't mind, sleeping under an overpass was fine too, but Gray couldn't suffer with him.
"I don't mind sleeping on the floor either, can you give one room to Gray? I'll buy the furniture later."
[You really spoil your sister... Alright, there are still many empty rooms on the third floor, you can just choose one to be your bedroom. Oh yeah, buy a set of furniture for me too while you're at it, the money can be directly deducted from the remaining payment you just received]
"Okay."
[Then that's it, see you]
After hanging up, Naoki immediately let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Gray beside him, "Alright Gray, the accommodation is settled. To be honest, this afternoon before leaving when I canceled the hotel room, I was still wondering what if Master didn't agree, now it's no longer a problem."
"Miss Touko is a kind person who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside."
"In that case... let's go to the supermarket. Master allowed us to stay, we should buy something to thank Master, and the day after tomorrow is New Year's, it's time to buy some things."
Gray nodded, then asked, "But... what's the difference between New Year's in Japan and in England? What should we buy?"
Hearing that, Naoki's half-raised foot froze.
'This reminds me... I've actually only celebrated Japanese New Year once.'
After all, Naoki had only lived in Japan for about a year and a half, and the only New Year's he experienced was at Ryuudou Temple.
After a moment of silence, Naoki decisively took out his phone.
If in doubt, search the internet.
"Damn it, flip phones can't access the internet..."
This was the umpteenth time Naoki felt uncomfortable with this era of underdeveloped technology.
"A-anyway, let's go to the supermarket first, the supermarket will definitely have a list of things to buy for New Year's, we'll just take a look and buy them. If that doesn't work, we'll just ask a kind person on the side of the road."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Compared to supermarkets in England, supermarkets in Japan looked a bit lacking in terms of the variety of goods. For Naoki and Gray, who were used to the large supermarkets in England, the Japanese side actually felt a bit small.
"Gray, what do you want to eat tonight?"
While pushing the shopping cart in the food section, Naoki looked at the various food items while asking.
Not answering directly, Gray asked back, "Does Brother want to cook tonight?"
"After all, we can't keep eating out all the time, Brother's wallet isn't that thick. Although my cooking is just average, it's not comparable to Merlin at all."
"Brother's cooking..."
Slightly imagining the scene of Naoki wearing an apron and cooking in the kitchen, Gray's small face suddenly turned red. She hurriedly pulled down her hooded hat and ran ahead of the cart, putting in a few boxes of beef.
"Beef? Hmm... if it's half-price discount, it's fine. Ah yeah, I also don't know if there's a refrigerator and kitchen in the office? Let's send a short message to ask Master."
Although Naoki could already guess the situation.
After finishing typing the short message and sending it, Naoki continued looking at the refrigerator, "If it's beef... beef stew with potatoes? Black pepper beef? Braised beef? What do you think, Gray?"
"Can Brother really make those?"
"Ugh!" Naoki's expression froze for a moment, "Following the recipe, it definitely won't be a problem! Besides, it's not like I really can't cook! Simple dishes are still possible!"
After all, he was someone who survived tenaciously in a rented apartment in Japan for a year and a half. Although he hadn't reached the point of being able to do bushcraft, if he was struggling alone in a big city, Naoki was confident he definitely wouldn't starve.
"Okay, it's decided. Tonight's dinner will be scrambled eggs with tomatoes and beef stew with potatoes, then buy a pack of seaweed to make seaweed egg soup—message from Master... [Just buy some cooking utensils, a stove and the like can be dealt with by Magecraft, the refrigerator is the same]."
"Brother, isn't it possible that Miss Touko plans to use fire Magecraft to cook?" Gray asked, "I remember Miss Mary did it once before, and almost blew up the kitchen."
"For Master, it should be fine, right?"
Touko's magic circuits had extraordinary precision, which was also reflected in her control over Magecraft. The situation of Merlin blowing up the kitchen shouldn't happen—speaking of which, wasn't Naoki the one responsible for lighting the fire back then?
'I-it wasn't me who lit the fire, it'll definitely be fine!'
Comforting himself thus in his heart, Naoki began looking for the section selling pots and spatulas.
'Speaking of cooking for oneself, dish soap, towels, a trash can and trash bags... the things that need to be bought are actually quite a lot.'
"Kyaaa!"
While thinking and walking, Naoki didn't notice someone coming out from behind the shelf next to him at all. Only after hearing the scream did he hurriedly stop and walk over to help her stand up, "Sorry, I was thinking about something just now, are you alright? Did you bump into anything?"
"N-no, it's alright, I'm fine..."
The black-haired girl rubbed her leg and stood up, and just as she stood up and showed her face, Naoki's eyes unconsciously widened slightly.
'This person... Kokutō Azaka?'
Another unfamiliar acquaintance.
What a coincidence.